Northern Impersonator by Steve Holmes

Northern Impersonator

Steve Holmes

My wife and I are the local butterfly recorders for our area in Suffolk and we were recently sent extracts from ‘Suffolk Argus’ vols. 79 & 80 by friends of ours who knew of our lepidopteran interests. The extracts concerned the “white halo” variant of the Brown Argus (aricia agestis), often called var. snelleni. We too have some experience of this variant, as recorded in our 1 acre, flora rich meadow in Laxfield.

I maintain a website for the meadow, which has a sub-section describing the butterfly species we have recorded there, together with numerous photographs. You are invited to see photos of “our” var. snelleni and read the accompanying descriptions. Go to http://www.holmesfamily-UK.net/washmeadow Select the “Butterflies” link in the lower section, and then “Brown Argus” from the matrix of butterfly species. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and finally select the link at bottom right.

Brown Argus - snelleni by Steve Holmes

Unexpected Butterflies

Richard Stewart

I can vividly remember the surprise and quick reactions of those gathered in the Tattingstone car park for a Branch meeting some years ago. Suddenly a Clouded Yellow, almost certainly the rarest species to be seen that day, passed through, even before the meeting had officially started. My own surprises over the years have included a dew drenched Green-Veined White on a dawn chorus and a Swallowtail passing through our Ipswich garden, origin unknown. Two White Admiral sightings were memorable, the first feeding with other species on Buddleia at Beccles railway station. These Buddleias had colonised an unused platform over the years but subsequently it has been renovated and the Buddleias removed. That was back in 2005 but in 2018 as my wife and I were walking along Westerfield road, I suddenly saw a butterfly on the pavement. It took a few seconds to identify it as a White Admiral as it was fluttering with closed wings. This to my knowledge was the closest this species has been to central Ipswich, but it was obviously damaged, probably in the slipstream of a passing car. All I could do was catch it with cupped hands and place it over the railings of nearby Christchurch Park.

On several occasions late Red Admirals have been seen in the heart of Ipswich, one flying over the bus shelters at Electric House on 23rd December 2019. Even more surprising was one on the pavement at the entrance to Sainsbury’s, a perilous place from the point of view of many passing feet. This was on 20th December 2008, but I managed to quickly catch it and place it somewhere safer and much quieter, in nearby Lower Brook Street. However, the most unexpected Red Admiral sighting was in the plural. Our garden pine tree sometimes harbours hibernating butterflies, but it was still an incredible surprise, looking out of my upstairs study window, to see two Red Admirals emerge together from the pine, flying closer to me before rising to clear our roof.